Three Days In Spring

It's Sunday evening about 6:30 PM. I thought I'd take a couple of moments and write. It was a pretty good weekend all in all.

Friday was technically my day off but I spent three or four hours working some problems at work. After I wrapped that up – neither one was actually resolved they were just moved forward - I went out and met Don for lunch at Outback. I had the Alice Springs Chicken, one of my favorites. We then went over to the Café Society for coffee and conversation and mostly talked about stem cell therapy. Afterwards I wondered home and spent a mostly quiet evening reading and writing.

I fell asleep late on Friday night and woke up early on Saturday morning – about 4:30 AM. It was a pretty clean wake up so I just got up and read my way through a quiet morning. About 8 o'clock I went out and picked up Bob and we went over to the Hickory Pit for breakfast. Bob was moving a little slow but he was otherwise in a good mood. After breakfast I ran a couple of small errands and then circled home.

I spent the afternoon cleaning, reading and binge watching the Americans. I'm all caught up now. That's a great show, the acting is outstanding and the stories are good. Keri Russell is quite wonderful in it. Since I watched five episodes and that pretty much took me through the entire day. I had a good conversation with TR and managed to fight off sleep until about 9:00 PM, when I zonked out.

Sunday I slept in until about 7:30 AM, then got up, scurried around a bit, and went to Palm Sunday mass. After that I met Tyrone for breakfast, then swing by Bob's to visit. Had a good visit with Bob. He was having trouble with his equilibrium. We spent about two hours in conversation on a beautiful day.

Then home again, another spot of cleaning, and then I went out to do a couple loads of laundry, including the linens and light jackets. There were a lot people at the laundromat so the people watching was good. I got home and I've spent the evening watching "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" with Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton and Famke Jensen. It's an entertaining movie and it's easy on the eyes. It's a good way to end the weekend.


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A Discordant Sunday

The day started normally. I went to breakfast with Bob and Tyrone. Breakfast was good. I had a Santa Fe omelette. Then, we walked out and Tyrone noticed a nail in the sidewall of my right front tire. That derailed any plans I had for the day.

So I popped over to Goodyear and got a new set of tires (the old ones were warn). That took about two hours. While they worked on it I walked over to Santana Row where I sat at Starbucks and people watched waiting for Don to join me for lunch. I have to say there are some pretty people that frequent Santana Row on a Spring Sunday.

Don met me for lunch at Rosie McCann's, where I had bangers and mash, which was pretty tasty. We had a good conversation and then I walked back to Goodyear to pick the Jeep up. I'm now in a good set of tires with an 80,000 mile warranty, road hazard, and pre-paid rotation and alignment. A bit pricey, but I'm happy with it.

I wandered home from there and tried to take a nap, but the incidental sounds of an afternoon kept me from dropping very deeply into sleep. I got back up about 4:00 PM and made a couple of sandwiches for dinner. Then I idled away the time watching some ancestry show with the actress Courtney Cox. It was interesting.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight - I have some work I could do but I'm not really in the mood. On the other hand I've got a fairly good shot of energy, so I might actually accomplish something. Like...being really lazy! Just kidding - I may bag up some things to through away and I may log on to read email and send some meeting notices. Or I might not.


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What A Piece of Work Is Man

I've been moody the last two days. I suspect work stress and the weather are, in equal parts, involved.  Neither Friday or Saturday were productive days. Both of them involved long naps.  It may be that is just what I needed to try and recharge my batteries which we partly exhausted by the business travel. I do feel a little better as I slide into the evening here.

I watched the opening ceremonies for the Sochi Olympic Games - very impressive, very beautiful and, for me at least, very moving.  The Russian people have a deep and rich history that, if you are a fan of history, you can easily get lost in it.  The heights they have achieved and the tragedies they have suffered bear witness to the full sweep of humanity (and inhumanity).  I'm already enjoying the games this year.  I am not terribly impressed with NBC's coverage, but so far, for the most part, I can ignore the preening.

I didn't do much today.  I had breakfast with Bob and Tony, then stopped by Bob's house to visit for a while, then went wandering.  I made a short stop at the Barnes & Noble on Stevens Creek and San Tomas Expressway but I was only there for twenty minutes so I didn't pick anything up.  There is no way that I can make that kind of decision in a book store in that short of time.  There are way too many tempting things!

From there, I headed up to Outback Steakhouse at the Great Mall and had lunch with Don, then took a walk through that vast Temple of Mammon.  Afterwards, I came home and laid down and took a longish nap.  I didn't really get to sleep, but I did rest and zone for a while.  Dinner was a bowl of cream of chicken soup while I watched the last of the Olympic ceremony.  Now, I have settled in to watch a couple of episodes of America Unearthed, one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

TR is on travel, so I have missed her, even though she has only be gone for two days.  We human beings are amazing things.  We contain within us Walt Whitman's multitude, which is pretty amazing.  We are creatures of such complexity and yet at the same time we are also creatures of simplicity.  What did Shakespeare say..."Oh, what a piece of work is Man...".

Breakfast with a Red Headed Sparrow

It is a beautiful morning here in California.  I slept well last night, woke in the magical hour before dawn and watched the sunrise.  A hot shower, then coffee and pumpkin bread on the patio, savoring this fall morning. I was joined by a red headed sparrow who dropped down into the black oil sunflower seeds and seemed to be enjoying himself very much.  I fired off a few texts, then settled in to watch the morning news shows. I've got a simple day ahead of me.  My plan is to meet Rick and Tony at the Cheesecake Factory at noon for lunch, and I am sure I'll take a nice ambling walk through the Temple of Mammon afterwards.

Breakfast, Of Sorts

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Turn About Twice

I had an amusing start to the day.

First, I slept in an extra hour, in part because I am still adjusting to the change to daylight savings time and in part because I planned on starting the day with a visit to the lab so they could draw blood for routine testing. So far, so good.

I drove over to the lab and spent a few minutes walking around the complex because it was strangely laid out (probably the result of organic growth over time). Eventually, I found the door into the lab, then proceeded to sit and wait. The actual process of drawing blood took all of five minutes, if that. The technician was good and there was nary a pin-prick of pain involved. But, the sitting, waiting, and paperwork filled the better part of thirty minutes.

Successfully drained of blood, I set out to wind my way into work. Unfortunately, it was during the height of commuting traffic.

I dropped down to Steven’s Creek, curled around and headed for 280 N. Fortunately, I could see it was completely stopped ahead, so I took 280 S. instead (wrong direction number one). I went down to City College, got off the interstate, turned around and got back on 280 N., heading for 880 N. I could instantly see that is was also at a complete standstill, so I did a quick lane change and found myself on 17 S. (wrong direction number two). I headed down 17 S. and decided…not to play with traffic any more. I dropped off at Hamilton, drove down Bascom to Goodies II and stopped for breakfast of Huevos Mexicanos, hash browns, wheat toast with orange marmalade, and a cup of black coffee.

After breakfast I headed into the office – this time, it went smoothly – 17 N. to 280 S. to Sunnyvale-Saratoga north, then into the office just in time to make the first meeting of the day! Almost perfect timing. Except for the whole ending up heading in the wrong direction twice.

On the plus side of the day though – a nice bit of time spent with T.R. to start the day, a nice extra hour of sleep, a skilled technician at the lab, and an excellent breakfast.

Breakfast

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Perfection for Breakfast

Breakfast was cream cheese and blueberry French toast washed down with
a tall glass of orange juice. Perfection.

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